Lesson 5 of 6
Reconciliation and controls
7 min
Listen to this lesson
Finance trusts an EDI channel when it can prove three things for any period: everything that should have been sent or received was (completeness), the amounts are right (accuracy), and nothing was sent or posted twice (uniqueness). A green IDoc monitor proves none of these on its own. A reconciliation does.
Outbound: billing to the customer
For Great Lakes Fleet Services, the outbound reconciliation compares four populations for the period: billing documents for bill-to 17100001, processed EDI output items on those billing documents, INVOIC IDocs to partner 17100001 with their statuses, and the 810 interchanges acknowledged by 997s in Process Orchestration. Counts must match at every step, and the sum of totals in E1EDS01 must match the billing documents' net plus tax.
Where counts break, the break tells you where to look: a billing document without a processed EDI output is an output rule problem; an output without an IDoc is a partner profile problem; an IDoc in 30 or 02 is a dispatch problem; an IDoc in 03 without a 997 is a middleware or partner problem. Totals that differ with matching counts are mapping problems, such as the TDS decimal defect in Lesson 2.
Inbound: supplier to accounts payable
For Lakeside, the inbound reconciliation compares the 810s received in Process Orchestration, INVOIC IDocs from partner 17300001 by status, and supplier invoices created from them. The invoice overview (MIR6) lists invoice documents by origin, including EDI, and by status such as posted, blocked or saved for verification. Anything in IDoc status 51 or 64 at period end is an unposted liability and goes on Dan's close checklist with an owner and an expected date.
| Check | Source | Expected |
|---|---|---|
| 810s received from Lakeside in the period | XP1 message monitor | Equals INVOIC IDocs created for LI 17300001 |
| INVOIC IDocs by status | BD87 or WE02 by message type, partner and date | All 53, or 51 with a named owner |
| EDI-origin supplier invoices | MIR6 by origin and supplier | One invoice per IDoc in 53 |
| Blocked EDI invoices | Blocked invoices list for the supplier | Each with a reason and owner |
| Totals | Sum of invoice amounts vs. sum of IDoc totals | Equal |
Monthly inbound reconciliation for an EDI supplier.
Controls auditors look for
Segregation of duties matters here more than in most interfaces, because an EDI invoice turns into a payment without a human keying it. Contoso's rules, agreed with Nadia's security and GRC team: integration specialists may reprocess IDocs but not edit INVOIC data records; AP clerks may release blocked invoices but not change partner profiles or tax code assignments; changes to the three EDI Customizing activities go through transports approved by Dan. Nadia's team added the IDoc edit authorization for invoice message types to the critical access rules in SAP Access Control 12.0.
Daily, monthly, after change
Contoso runs the reconciliation at three rhythms. Daily, the integration team checks counts and error queues, so a break is found within a day while the partner can still resend. Monthly, AP and AR run the full count-and-total reconciliation for each EDI partner and attach it to the close evidence that Dan reviews. After any change to output rules, partner profiles, mappings or the middleware itself, the reconciliation is rerun for a test period in CMQ before the change reaches CMP.
- Reconcile completeness, accuracy and uniqueness: counts and totals at every hop, not just IDoc statuses.
- Where the count breaks tells you which layer failed: output, partner profile, dispatch, middleware or partner.
- MIR6 lists supplier invoices by origin; unposted IDocs at period end are unposted liabilities.
- Restrict IDoc editing for invoices, separate AP release from interface setup, and transport tax and company code assignments.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Finance wants evidence that every EDI invoice sent last month matches a billing document. What is the best evidence?
2. Counts match from billing to 997 but the totals differ. Where is the problem most likely?
3. Which control most directly addresses the risk of edited invoice IDocs?
4. Which transaction lists supplier invoices by origin, including EDI?